The Real Deal New York

Soho condo tower gets green light from land use board

Madison Equities and Property Markets Group have won unanimous approval from the city Board of Standards & Appeals for their design of a planned residential condominium project in Soho.

The decision — expected, but still a relief — clears the way for the partners to start construction at the site, at 10 Sullivan Street or 120 Sixth Avenue, this month, said Robert Gladstone, who heads up Madison. The new development, a 16-story flatiron-shaped tower with four adjoining townhouses, will likely be completed by the second quarter of 2015. The sponsors have not yet released prices.

The partnership required the variance in order to build a residential building since the area is zoned for commercial and industrial uses.

“We were comfortable enough because there was a permit in place to build a hotel in the worst case scenario, but we also knew that the community wanted to see residential there,” said Richard Lam, a partner in the project and a senior managing director at PMG.

The 204-foot-high tower was designed by architect-turned-developer Cary Tamarkin and will be his tallest project to date. Corcoran Group agents Julia Cahill and Marie-Claire Gladstone, Robert Gladstone’s wife, will handle sales and marketing at an off-site sales office set to open in January.

Situated on a triangular-shaped site on Sullivan Street and Sixth Avenue, the tower will feature rounded glass windows and a corbelled black and blonde Norman brick exterior with large classic industrial-style windows.

“This will be the tallest residential building in Soho,” Gladstone said. “There’s only one Soho. I think the market is very much going to like what they see.”

While the building was initially slated to have 27 units, the sponsors are now considering combining some of the smaller apartments. Each one will have 11-foot ceilings and heated floors, Gladstone said.

Meanwhile, the four attached 25-foot-wide townhouses will be five stories apiece and each have elevators.

Madison’s involvement in The Sullivan Street project began in 2010, when it picked up part of the site, at 140 Sixth Avenue, with a view to building a hotel in partnership with California-based private equity firm CIM Group. It then sought to buy out the owners and leaseholders of another site to the south, at 72 Sullivan Street, in order to expand the site.

Madison and CIM parted ways after Madison began leaning towards a condo project on the site instead of a hotel. As a result, Madison eventually bought CIM out of its interest in the project in 2012, bringing PMG into the deal.

In total, Madison and PMG poured around $46 million into the acquisition of both sites, Gladstone said.